Mass in support of migrant workers – May 7th 2007

Issued by the Diocese of Westminster

Several thousand people are expected to take part in a special Mass for Migrants, which will be celebrated at Westminster Cathedral, London SW1, at 10.00am on Bank Holiday Monday, 7th May 2007.

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, will concelebrate the Mass with the heads of the other two London dioceses, Archbishop Kevin McDonald of Southwark, who will give the Homily, and Bishop Tom McMahon of Brentwood.

The multilingual Mass on the Feast of St Joseph the Worker will begin with a procession of parishes and faith groups, and will include music from Africa and Latin America. Intercessions will be read in six different languages including Romanian, French, Portuguese, Yoruba and Tamil.

The Mass will be followed by a walk from Westminster Cathedral to Trafalgar Square, where London’s faith and civic communities will take part in a rally in support of the ‘Strangers into Citizens’ campaign. Strangers into Citizens is calling for a pathway to legal rights for undocumented migrants who have made new lives in the UK.

Note to Editors
Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor is due to appear on the Andrew Marr programme on BBC-1 on Sunday, 6th May 2007 (9.00am onwards) and on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 on Monday, 7th May 2007. In these interviews he will be discussing the importance of migrant communities to the Catholic Church and highlighting their pastoral and spiritual needs.

More information at:
www.rcdow.org.uk/massformigrants
www.londoncitizens.org.uk

For further details contact:
Eddie Tulasiewicz
Diocese of Westminster
Tel: 020 7798 9031
eddiet@rcdow.org.uk